New Series: WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

As many as have read the creation story is as many people that have had some objection. I think we need to establish the floor for our thinking. Let’s see how this fits.

Jesus was present in Creation. I’m going to stay away from a verse that many point to regarding the Creation

Genesis 1.26 uses a “kingly” reference by using us. This is a huge topic in itself and maybe next year in the winter we can completely discuss...

Here is that verse...

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let [US] make man in our image, after our likeness...”

This probably is not a reference to the Trinity and an Old Testament appearance of Jesus.

When God is seen in the Old Testament it is called a

Theophany - A visible appearance of Christ in the Old Testament.

Because according to Exodus 33 we cannot see God and live

Exodus 33:20 ESV

20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

So...

Most scholars put all of the “I saw,” “he sat,” “I heard Him say” in the category of aTheophany.

Let me give you a couple of examples. from the New Testament.

Colossians 1:15 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Paul is absolutely clear that Christ was present at Creation.

Here is another

John 5:37 ESV

37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,

“His voice...”

“His form...”

So today’s message is primarily from the Creation story primarily found in Genesis but the echoes of that Creation appear all throughout the Old and New Testaments. Today we are focusing on the earliest parts of the Old Testament. The first 5 books

So the books of the Pentateuch are:

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

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BIG QUESTION: Why does it matter if Christ is in Creation?

Before we make that big leap of answering the BIG QUEStion, Let’s see where Jesus appears.

Here is one to get us started

Genesis 1:3–4 (ESV)

3 And God [SAID] , “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4 And God [SAW] that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

A “formless” person does NOT speak or see. These are probable Theophanies.

For some people..

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...”

Here is another in the story of the coming Patriarchs.

Genesis 16:7–13 ESV

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” 13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”

This “Angel of The Lord” was a Theophany. The Son in this case, as the second person of the God-head is labeled as the “Angel of the Lord.”

Christ is seeking out the fleeing and disheartened Hagar. This reveals the Gracious care that God provides

The Grace that we experience, that we benefit from is from God!

Grace - Is defined as God’s favor towards the unworthy.

In His grace, God is willing to forgive us and bless us, despite the fact that we fall short of living righteously.

Here is how God delivered it

Romans 3:23–26 NLT

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

God’s Grace is delivered by Jesus even in the depths of the Old Testament

Genesis 3:8–9 ESV

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

So God is without form… But yet they “heard the sound of the LORD God or Yahweh walking...

This is a Theophany...

There was some form… had to be Jesus that Adam and Eve where hiding from before God started all missionary work...

Genesis 3:9 ESV

9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

“Where are you?” - Of course God knew where they were, he wanted Adam and Eve to confess and repent and to be “right with God.”

God’s Grace — His unmerited favor is established firmly in the Old Testament. God delivers Grace by The Son, Jesus.

Here is a reminder for you

BIG QUESTION: Why does it matter if Christ is in Creation?

POINT #1 - The Grace that we experience is from God, Through Jesus.

You know where we all would be without the Grace of God… Dead in our trespass, “between and rock and hard place” “Up a creek without a paddle.” and the many more way to describe it. Most are PG but some verge on R.

Psalm 30:5 ESV

5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Proverbs 3:34 ESV

34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

John 1:16 ESV

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

And Finally...

Ephesians 2:4–8 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Christ belongs in Creation.

He saw the Graceful way that God the Father treated the few and chose to make that available for EVERYONE!

There are 182 passages in the Bible that highlight the Grace of God. Most of those passages you can clearly see the actions of God in the Old Testament and Jesus and His disciples acts in the New Testament

God could have treated in any way that He pleases we are HIS creatures… God Chose to be gracious to us!

The Grace of God was delivered to us, as an opportunity to partake in the Gospel.

Jesus ultimately acted with Grace towards us when He willing went to the CROSS.

To freely accept the burden that was waiting him them.

POINT #2 - The Grace that God delivered in the Old Testament through Jesus forms the foundation of The Gospel in the New Testament.

The Gospel...

The Gospel is an announcement of The Good News. In particular, The Gospel is that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have brought about salvation for the world.

The world got started in bad way even if we don’t understand the big picture of God.

The two that he sent made a choice and sinned

One of the original children of Adam and Eve murdered his brother.

And the list goes on...

God stayed true His Word as he saw the patriarchs raised from “no standing” to become the foundations that the world still exists firmly planted where we belong! This was accomplished by God’s Grace and Mercy found throughout the Old Testament.

BIG QUESTION: Why does it matter if Christ is in Creation?

So… Does it matter that Christ is or is not in creation

POINT #3 - Christ forms the foundation of the activities of God within the whole of scripture.

Within the New Testament

1Tim3.16

1 Timothy 3:16 NLT

16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.

And I’ll just add… In Eternity!

As we look back from our present view we see Jesus and all of acts both in the New and Old Testaments.

In the Old Testament

Genesis 22:11–12 ESV

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Jesus physically held back the hand of Abraham from sacrificing his son.

We need to know that without Jesus… Our faith is no different than those who worship at the foot of an unknown God.

Jesus… God with skin on came to earth, humbled himself as a baby and a child.

Grew into His role as King, Preacher and Savior and left the earth in the hands of his followers.

Someday he will return… we don’t know the day or the hour, but his day is coming!

An Answer to our title

WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

Did you expect that Jesus was absent until His birth in the stable?

Did you expect that Jesus was not active throughout the Old Testament?

OR… Did you know and just needed some encouragement.

Whatever the case… scripture is alive and active in ways that even with our 21st century eyes we do not see